


Waking into Nightmares

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: DreamVerse [2]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Multi, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-03
Updated: 2014-08-03
Packaged: 2018-02-11 15:36:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2073603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Titan boys were not the only victims of the Dream and its horrifying revelations of things to come.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waking into Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> Pulls apart the events of Identity and Infinite Crisis for our own purposes. Cherry-picked continuity.

It was five in the morning here in Buenos Aires, but Dinah Lance was still on Hong Kong time. The jet-lag was going to be horrid when it hit, but right now it felt like mid-afternoon to her as she showed her (very good fake) ID to the concierge and took her key-card for the room waiting upstairs. She handed off her single bag to a politely-hovering attendant and let him guide her to the elegant lift and then to the room. The 'Do Not Disturb' sign was out, which meant her partner was at least attempting to sleep, and she slipped ahead of the young man to let herself into the room, reaching back for her bag. She passed him the tip she'd gathered from her jacket, along with a smile, and he disappeared after a moment's smile back at her.

She re-locked the door, flipping the deadbolt as well, and left her bag on the vanity off to her left before she walked across the compact sitting-room to the bedroom beyond -- where she stopped dead in the doorway.

It wasn't the first time she'd seen Slade in the grip of nightmares. How could it be, with his history and the lives they led? This one looked worse than most, though. He normally slept neatly, the economic curl of a lifelong soldier, barely disturbing the area he chose to rest in; be it a bed, couch, bedroll, or twenty feet up a tree. Nightmares made him more restless, but he tended to _wake_ not too far into those...

The bed she was looking at now was a shambles. The pillows had long since hit the floor on either side of the bed, the top bedspread was half-off on one side, and it and the sheets kicked completely free of the foot of the mattress -- not just kicked free but torn, in the case of the sheet, she saw with a worried catch in her breathing. Sweat stood out on his skin, despite the completely comfortable temperature in the room, and... blood. Smears of dark crimson marred the sheets near his head, spread like streaked paint down the mattress to where one of his hands lay in a white-knuckled fist -- but he was still asleep.

He _was_ still asleep, and that worried her even more. No, it more than worried her; it outright frightened her. This trapped in his nightmares, he might well lash out at anything that hit his awareness, including her -- and then he would be distraught, once he was awake again. He didn't know she was here, hell, probably didn't know where here _was_... how could she wake him without startling him into violence?

She turned around, though everything in her wanted to just go to him, go to his side and soothe him, and started coffee brewing from the supply on the counter. The scent would be familiar and incongruous to his nightmares of jungle heat or desert battlefields, something to pull him back -- she hoped. //And he's going to want it, if I know him...//

There was nothing she could cook or heat, and she wasn't about to leave the room or call for room service to have scents of food, too... a pity, that. It would help. //Coffee, can't have food... running water? Hot water? He can always tell the temp by scent...//

She nodded to herself and turned the hot-water tap in the sink on, half-plugging the sink so that it would pool without eventually running over, and smeared a little of the liquid soap around the bowl. Lightly floral, to her, but another scent that wouldn't belong in whatever hellhole had her man trapped in it. 

Those were all the environmental cues she could come up with, and she left the vanity for the bedroom again. He'd thrashed while she wasn't there, his body now turned the other way and fresh traces of blood showed her how his fist had moved. //Damnit, Slade, baby...//

She settled with her back against one of the walls and started to talk to him. "Gorgeous man, I know you've been tired, and it's still early here, but I think you need to get on with coming back to me..."

She could see him twitching, but the rhythm was that of the dream, not a response to her voice. He was, truly, trapped inside whatever nightmare was there inside his mind.

She kept talking, soft and quiet, waiting -- though she grew more and more frightened the longer she spoke to him with no response. She gave up holding still in favor of prowling the room, worried that he'd been drugged, or had some kind of spell placed on him... 

She was looking at him when he suddenly sucked a breath that shuddered with pain and strain and... fear?, his eye snapping open, and she went still, watching him. "Slade? Baby, are you with me?" 

//Son… Kid… Rose. Danger. Me. The danger.// Where was he? Hotel. Prep for a run with _her_ , his little bird, that was where he was. But everything in his head felt so much more immediate and real. It was all the horror and despair the universe normally heaped on his shoulders. What he had with his little bird was an idyll that had always seemed impossible, making it harder to believe in it rather than the nightmares still flicking in his mind's eye.

//No, no he's not,// she realized as his gaze flicked around, not quite _seeing_ her. She stayed where she was, her weight shifting only a little. "Slade, honey... come back to me, come back... I'm here, baby," she called, soft and steady, watching his face. 

He looked at her, not through her, seeing her as //threat, liar… no. Never disloyal...// She had connections. Connections that were not a trickster goddess, and would be able to help protect the Kid and his daughter. He did not think about saving his son; that was impossible. The universe would never be so kind. "Put me down, sister, and don't let me back up til you get some mage, not the bitch in the top hat, to come here," he rasped out. His throat felt raw with the choked screams of his sleep, seeing a crater, a radioactive one, where the Kid's city had been.

//Zee?// she blinked, surprised. What on Earth had made him think of Zatanna, let alone speak of her with such venom and fury? And what -- 

"How exactly am I supposed to do that when you're on guard?" she asked, frightened by the rasp in his voice as much as what he was telling her to do. Yes, she'd seen him come back from the dead, that didn't mean that him being dead wasn't terrifying! It also wasn't something she wanted to subject this hotel to... but he was so certain. So terrifyingly certain. 

He looked at her with all the horror, despair, and feeling of loss that was coursing through his body right now. "Azarath." So many tortured emotions in that one word, pushing him to demand this of her. "I… think I can hold myself back. I _know_ you can do it, little bird."

The look on his face -- she was going to cry just from that look, later. Right now... that name meant that she _had_ to act. "...okay, baby. But let's not have you coming back smelling like that much sweat and blood, yeah? Come on, into the shower with you -- just long enough to get you scrubbed off," she added swiftly at the wild look in his eye. 

That would give her time to get to one of his weapons, the sound of the water would help cover _her_ sound... and it would keep her from ruining the hotel's bed for them. He looked suspicious, but… she never coped well. And he reeked enough to know it would be a high enough scent to add to her distress. He inclined his head slightly, walking to the shower to let it rinse away the stink. Unfortunately, it meant his brain just kept swirling around the dream images. The Kid running to him, broken and desperate competed with the image of the Kid caught in a bright flare of a weapon, a weapon he should know… why couldn't he quite place that blast?

She didn't like the shift of his body, the tension in his shoulders, and she busied herself with finding a knife in his gear that she could get at quickly enough. She found one, slipped it out of its sheath, and followed him into the bathroom, thanking everything for hotels and their fondness for only shower curtains, not glass. She **hated** this, hated it so much, but //Azarath. Oh, gods, Azarath// meant she had no choice -- and she was striking even as she reminded herself of that. 

Even with all of her skill and Slade trying **not** to fight, getting the blade deep enough into his chest -- his heart -- to put him down left her bruised, halfway into the shower, and soaked. The cascade of him falling, of her knowing he was dead, threatened to pull her into that hysteria-edged sensation that was far too familiar. She knew he came back, knew it with all her heart, but that did not seem to matter to the woman that needed her partner.

She got back out of the shower and shut the water off, trying to make herself focus. He'd said she needed a mage, a mage not Zee -- she didn't want Zee near him _anyway_ , something deep in her heart snarled -- but... she didn't want Hector. She didn't want her uncle. She wanted J'onn. 

She shouldn't bother him, though -- Oh, **Bullshit** she shouldn't bother him, Deathstroke was possesed by the spirits of Azarath, or thought he was! 

~J'onn!~ she shrieked into a long-dormant corner of her mind, trying to make certain he would hear her even though it had been so long. ~J'onn!!~ 

While she was shrieking, she grabbed a towel and laid it over her man's hips and groin, guarding his decency. 

~Dinah?~ The surprise at being contacted was not feigned. He could not truly think of the last time she'd contacted him mentally, and even those other contacts had been excessively limited. ~You… what has happened?~ He could feel the roiling fear/panic/terror under her determined grasp for his mind.

~Need you. Slade -- oh, right, get to find out if I owe him dinner -- He was -- I don't know. Dreaming, _nightmare_ , he couldn't wake up. Then he did and he kept telling me to put him down and get someone, because Azarath,~ Dinah answered, making herself focus on telling J'onn what he needed to know. Azarath, without Raven on the planet, the plane, was such bad news that she _had_ to have help. 

J'onn listened, gleaning the impact and meaning of Azarath from Dinah's perceptions of the threat level. He grew uneasy; that Slade Wilson had asked to be killed was terrifying, based on his observations. He was quietly proud that his friend could do as asked, and considered the world safer for those two being a bonded pair.

~Where are you… ahh, that hotel. Of course. It will take me a few minutes to acquire discreet assistance, Dinah. As difficult as it is to endure the loss of your partner, keep him under.~

~He won't come back,~ she agreed, even though she hated it, she _hated_ when he was dead, she wanted him to be okay, to be back with her. ~...not Zatanna. He said not Zee, and -- ~ She shook her head, hard, trying to focus. That didn't matter. ~I'll see you when you get here. Just... hurry?~

//Not Zatanna?// J'onn would puzzle that over later. ~He is friends with the Titans. I will contact Arthur and see if his protege is available.~ That would satisfy the privacy needs; Black Canary and Deathstroke being so involved was not something much of the community was ready for. ~I am right here,~ he reminded her, before muting that link most of the way down so he could reach to their friend.

~...yes,~ she agreed after a second. J'onn was there, he was getting the help Slade needed, it was going to be okay. She checked the knife buried in his chest, making sure that his healing wasn't forcing it out, then made herself start drying her hair. The normal actions, no matter how abnormal the reason, helped settle her a little more. 

In the deep, black ocean, Arthur shook his head in startlement as J'onn's presence suddenly brushed his mind. Better this than a communicator the usurpers might trace, but still not best. ~J'onn? I am too busy for surface trouble.~ 

That did not set well with J'onn. He was just recently cleared of Fernus's influence, Dinah was contending with a possessed mate, and now Arthur was in trouble too? That boded ill for the world at large… or else he was staying around Bruce too much and seeing conspiracies worthy of the Question.

~Dinah needs Tempest's assistance. In ways that bode ill for the world unless I can get him, or a competently discreet mage, to her,~ J'onn offered.

Arthur tensed, the mention of his Tadpole //man grown, with a tadpole of his own// bringing up the memories of them being seized, of Mera -- it couldn't be her fault, not entirely -- of his own near-escape... But this was J'onn. J'onn, if anyone, might be able to free Garth and Cerdian, and Dolphin with them. With them free... ~If you can get them free, J'onn, it would be more help than you know.~ 

~Free…?~ And then J'onn deciphered all of Arthur's mind surrounding them. He headed for the teleporters immediately. ~I will contact you once I have them in my keeping, old friend.~ He knew Bruce would have lectured about interfering with the sovereignty of another nation, but Arthur had been the ruler the last J'onn had officially known, and his family was being held hostage.

It took longer than he cared to acknowledge, and J'onn had to reassure Dinah once in the process, but he narrowed the sensors down enough to locate the three beings inside Atlantis that were not quite of the same genetic stock. Such fine-tuning was difficult, and the actual power consumption to reach through Atlantis shields briefly dimmed the satellite, but he had three water breathers on his pads when he was done. 

"There is a nearby hydrotherapy tank, though it is quite small," J'onn offered as they were getting their bearings. "Built for Aquaman, so I presume it would suit immediate needs?"

Tempest blinked, shocked at the sudden whirl and shift in pressure, the silence in his ears and the -- They were on the Watchtower. He nodded, gathering his shocked wife and shrieking child up against his chest. "Lead, please?" 

The words sounded odd in the air and flat on his senses, but they worked well enough. What in Neptune's name was going on, he'd find out in a few minutes, once they were settled and he'd had a little more time to get used to the sudden change in pressure and temperature. 

"I do apologize for the lack of warning, but I am quite pressed for time, and Aquaman sounded very intent on procuring your freedom," J'onn told them as he escorted the family to the nearby medical bay with its tank. The water was purer than their native depths, but Aquaman and Batman had worked long hours to get the salinity correct. There were steps leading up, and Dolphin didn't need to be told to take them, though she was awkward on the climb. Stairs were not common under the sea. She took Cerdian from her mate, and set about getting the boy calmed in the slightly warm water.

"I am _not_ complaining," Garth said between coughs, shaking his head before he knelt on the top step to sink his head in for a moment, breathing water in again, re-setting his lungs so that he could empty them properly instead of having them sloshing half-full. He sat up, turning on the step to look at the Martian Manhunter. He couldn't think of a half-dozen times he'd actually been in the Manhunter's presence, and now his family was suddenly free because of him. "Sorry. That's better. I -- would you be kind enough to get these restraints off of me? Dolphin can't." 

He came back down as he asked, and blinked slightly at having to look up to find those red eyes. "What's going on that you needed Aquaman... or me?"

J'onn reached for the restraints and exerted slight pressure and judicious bit of his Martian Vision to remove the troublesome things. "You, actually. I need a mage who is familiar with Deathstroke, discreet, and adverse to allowing the spirits of Azarath a foothold once more." He kept his tone level, calm, but the lines of his beetled face revealed his fears that this would be a heavy demand on the young man.

"The -- " Garth swallowed hard at those last words, even as he stretched in relief at the disappearance of the restraints. //Raven, why did you have to leave us again?// "...Slade and the spirits of Azarath. That's frankly pretty terrifying," he said, trying to focus on the problem here instead of on his own emotional upheaval. The last time -- no, he was going to be no good to anyone if he let himself think about the last time. Distantly, he was incredibly curious about how Martian Manhunter came to be acting on Slade's behalf, but there were weirder things. 

"That was her impression as well," J'onn said. "Will your wife and child be at ease while I borrow your talents? They are in Buenos Aires." He noted the confusion on Tempest's features. "Ahh, sorry. That is the point where I need discretion, to protect his chosen partner."

"They're safe here, I think they'll be fine, just let me check with her." //Partner? He's picked a partner that isn't Wintergreen? ~~Or Stoplight?~~ Oh, I wonder how Gar's taking this.// He trotted up the steps again, sticking his head back down in the pool yet again to talk to Dolphin and make certain that she would be fine. A couple of minutes later, he surfaced and scrubbed the water away from his face and out of his hair. "She says they'll be fine, and thank you. Which... I think I forgot to say. I'm sorry. Thank you very much for the rescue." 

"Had I known sooner that you needed aid, I would have acted quicker," J'onn said, with just a little ire for Arthur in those words. //How often we walk alone, when we should not.// He led the way back to the teleporters, aiming for the roof of the hotel they needed. Granted, they'd have to go several floors down, but J'onn could fly them from that point. Only once they materialized did J'onn fill Tempest in further. "You may recognize the partner in question, Tempest. It is very necessary to not spread the word; they are well-matched but some would misunderstand."

"...are you sure _I'm_ not going to misunderstand?" Garth asked, _very_ nervous about something in the Manhunter's tone. "I mean... Wilson's," he paused, trying to find words, "complicated." 

J'onn smiled at that. "So I have learned since they have been wreaking merry havoc in my backyard. But I have faith that your wish to safeguard one of your earliest friends from sudden surprises will stand you in good stead." With that said, J'onn lifted Tempest and homed in on the window of Slade and Dinah's room. ~We come. The window?~ he sent to Dinah.

~Oh, I'm so glad. Yes, that's fine,~ she agreed, moving into the door of the bathroom to wait for them. 

Garth wasn't sure which part of that he was most confused by, but then they were flying down. Ridiculously, a //But you're a guy// flashed loudly through his mind. Leonid was almost their only flyer that wasn't a girl, at least from his teams... 

J'onn reached in to open the window, managing the fine control over his phasing ability with quiet pride. All of the challenges to his sense of self seemed to be settling out at last. He assisted Garth in and onto his own two feet, purposefully using his own bulk to hide the heroine until Garth was steady. 

"As we used to say, Dinah, I went fishing," J'onn said, stepping away to let the young hero see who he had been protecting.

//DINAH?!// Garth shook his head in shocked surprise, staring at the -- wait, was she younger? What in the heck was going on?! And how in all the Seas was Roy's Dinah involved with _Slade Wilson_?! 

Dinah blinked, then she couldn't help but smile in relief. "So you did find him -- oh, Tempest, I'm glad it's you. Slade always speaks well of you." 

"Yeah?" //Dammit, not Robbie… why in hell does he stay under our skin? Oh, because he tells it like it is.// "Been a while… wow, you are really louder than you have ever been to me." Garth gave her half a smile. "Magic buzz." He then looked around, and realized that the man in question had to be in the bath, but he wasn't speaking…

"Slade Wilson is currently dead, because he deemed it safest," J'onn said. "Another reason it was you I wanted. As a Titan, you'd be more aware of his situation."

"I am?" Dinah blinked at him, but then she had more important things to think about, like the wide-eyed look Tempest was giving her. "He said I had to," she said, defensively, "believe me it wasn't my idea. I -- should probably fill you both in, I guess. Though J'onn, you probably got most of it out of my head, I know I have to have been projecting pretty badly. 

"When I got here, he was..." she frowned, "I hate to call it sleeping, but. He was in bed, he'd wrecked the bed, and nothing I could do woke him up. Maybe touching him would have, but in that kind of state, he'd have hurt me and then been upset. I couldn't wake him, and couldn't wake him, and then all of a sudden he was awake, telling me to kill him, to keep him down until a mage got here. I argued, up until he said Azarath. He has to mean the Spirits, and that..." she spread her hands. "Little beyond me." 

"Hard to see how they could have escaped," Garth said, swallowing drily. "I read everything each person shared, including what the others said of what little Slade would tell." He drew in a deep breath. "But maybe Raven being out there opened a door," he admitted. "And more power to you for being able to," he said without any sarcasm; he'd never wanted to go toe to toe with Slade. The man could hold his own against Kory.

He walked forward, aware of J'onn moving at his side to try and get to Dinah. He brought all of his own shielding up, started calling on the energies he had not accessed since the catastrophe in Atlantis, as he tried to decide how to find and destroy the trouble.

"Pretty sure I couldn't have if he didn't mean to let me," Dinah said, then she blinked up at J'onn in her space. She put one hand up on him, still fighting to keep calm. She didn't want to go back into the bathroom, especially if she was 'loud' to Tempest's magical senses. "Hi, J'onn -- that man makes me go to pieces, this is _ridiculous_." 

"You've witnessed Batman being pushed to unreasonable lengths when it was I in danger; why do you think your own empathic ties would spare you?" J'onn asked her softly.

Garth tuned the pair of Leaguers //so weird// out to inspect the man in the shower. "Damn, Slade," he murmured, far too soft for either of the pair to hear. He knelt down, drawing on simple scrying… and there it was, lurking. A line of darkness, shifting and coiling, deep within the body, was actively trying to block his magic from seeing it fully.

Dinah stared up at J'onn, and had to replay his words in her head a couple of times before she was sure she'd heard him correctly. Her 'big brother' normally knew what he was talking about, but what on Earth did he mean this time? "...what 'empathic ties', J'onn? You've always said I've got the mental abilities of a teaspoon." 

That coiling magic had some of the feel of 'Raven' but far more of the overwhelming dark/evil of Trigon's power. All of his hair wanted to stand on end, and he rubbed at his arms for a moment while he tried to work out what he was going to _do_ about this. But what was the darkness trying to hide? 

J'onn blinked at her. "Dinah, you honestly did not realize that the hysteria you feel is because half of your soul is cut off from you currently? This puts all of your relationship choices in such better perspective, if you honestly could not see when you found your soulmate."

The magic grew more active as he probed at it, seeking escape… and there was a brief flash in Garth's mind of body-stealing, then the realization that could not work if the portal remained closed in death.

//Half of -- what?// She stared at him, shaking her head. "I... no? That's not.. humans don't do that, J'onn, soulmates, soulbonds, those are pretty things for romance novels, not -- " 

"OH _HELL_ NO," Tempest's snarl cut off her words and made her bolt towards the bathroom, panic surging through her at the tone of his voice, so much like Arthur's when things were truly going to hell and he was furious about it. 

"What?!" she questioned, sharp, yanking to a halt a few steps from the door. "What is it?!" 

"Martian Manhunter, I need your help," Garth said, shifting from indignant rage to a plan of action. "There's not just those vile things in his head, and… I have to save him. I just have to." Garth had no idea if the two of them could remove Joey from their influence, but he couldn't just end Joey's life along with those demon-tainted remnants.

"I can protect myself from possession of this variety," J'onn assured Garth. "Is there a name of the soul I am looking for?"

Dinah had been staring at Tempest, but 'not just those' and 'have to save him' -- she couldn't believe it, but if there was _any_ chance -- "Jericho," she answered before Tempest could. "Joseph William Wilson. Slade's younger son." 

Garth nodded slowly. "If you can get him… I will destroy all of those things. But we have to help him be clear of them, have to save him from all the horrors they made him do," the mage said, his voice ridden with anguish.

J'onn put his hand on the younger man's shoulder, squeezing. "I am on your side there, Tempest. The boy is not at fault for what they did; I can feel your concern. Possession is its own horror, and I will insure that Wilson's son receives the best help I can find for him."

Dinah kept herself out of that room with an effort, wanting to add her reassurances, but she couldn't help, couldn't get in the way of them being able to work... //Oh, Slade, baby, this is going to tear you apart... but it's going to be okay. I'll make you believe it'll be okay. J'onn won't let Joey down.// 

"We can do this," Garth said, before he closed his eyes, concentrating solely on the magic flow in and around Slade's body. While he did that, J'onn insinuated himself on the mental plane and searched. He would not intrude in the 'dead' man's mind, but his was not the only mind there.

~Joseph, come to me. I am the Martian Manhunter, and I wish to aid you. Come, Jericho, we must get you clear so that… Aqualad may help your father.~ Tempest's name change was from a time when J'onn did not think Jericho had been on the Titans, so he erred toward the earlier name.

He received a sense of bewildered confusion and fear, of incomprehension, and then there were words. ~...Garth -- Garth's alive? They didn't.. oh, _God_ , thank You. Dad? Dad's --~ He cut himself off with the feel of a shake of his head. ~What do I do?~ 

Dinah paced worriedly in the other room, then stopped and made herself start cleaning it up instead. The blood and sweat-stink wouldn't help Slade once he was trying to come back to sanity. Flipping the mattress once it was stripped would help a little, even if not much, and there were other practical things she could do. If she could just think straight, anyway. 

Garth ignored the sounds of the magic-riddled woman, and began nipping at the smaller pieces of the Spirits. They would all be destroyed, to be reclaimed by their proper cycles. He watched carefully for any attempt to hurt or anchor the soul at their center, building a small shield to keep them at bay.

~Come to me, take my hand,~ J'onn encouraged, letting his more familiar heroic shape form on this scape. ~I can guide you into my soul, away from your father's, and keep you safe until we fix the problem of your body.~

~You... make that sound... simple,~ Joey answered, disbelieving, but he took shape too, and stretched out one 'hand' to take Martian Manhunter's. He was still so confused, he remembered begging his father to save his friends from him, more than anything else, but... he wanted to live, if there was a chance. He hadn't been raised to give up. 

~Aqualad will guard your exit to me, then destroy the things that corrupted your power,~ J'onn promised him. ~From there, it is merely finding the right person to aid you.~ He caught Joey's hand, then pulled. While Garth's protections were good, J'onn wound up having to personally shred two spirit fragments to get Joey safely away from them and into his own body.

Once Garth saw the souls leave, he turned his own power loose, targeting the magic of the Azarath plane, the corruption of Trigon, and he unmade the whole foul mess of them, shielding Slade as best as he could.

~Garth?~ Joey repeated, entirely baffled, but he did as he was bid, and then he was inside of another mind. A familiar place, for him, but -- this other mind had entirely too much control of the situation! He snorted at himself, trying to figure out how to settle in when he wasn't taking over. 

J'onn laughed slightly in his mind. ~Here.~ J'onn gave over a piece of his mind to Joey's control; it wasn't so different from having family members ensconced for long discussions and debates. The thought made him slightly sad; the Great Mind was long gone, but such time-sharing had been common. ~My race thrived on mental sharing.~

Garth was all but shuddering when he finally purged the last of the traces; it was hard to be that precise with magic. "Done," he croaked. "I can't find any of them now."

"And the young man is with me," J'onn said, looking into the main room where Dinah had been staying busy.

Joey blinked, but this was... this was definitely better. ~I... thank you. This is... much more comfortable. You... are you all right?~ He could feel that sadness washing across the space between their minds, and this man was helping him. (And it kept him from worrying about the Titans, about his father -- no, that needed to wait.) 

Dinah turned around, looking up at J'onn with utter relief. "You've got him. You've got him, and those _things_ are gone, Tempest?" 

"Yeah," competed with "Yes," before Garth continued. "We've got to get Slade somewhere safer, so he can't hurt anyone."

"Dinah will handle that," J'onn said, having faith in her ability to keep the man contained. "Unless you prefer we attempt to move him?" He looked at his friend warmly. ~I am well, Joseph. The loss of my people will always be here, the loss of family even more. But I am most at peace with it when I may assist another family to be whole.~

Dinah hummed for a moment, thinking, then shook her head. "We don't come here often enough for him to have a safehouse I know about here. I could try getting in touch with his people, but... the longer he's down, the worse it's going to be. I can keep him from freaking out too badly -- if one of you will go get me fresh linens for the bed, at least." 

"You _what_? Are you _crazy?!_ " Garth asked, staring at her. Yes, he was exhausted, but one tiny little woman wasn't going to be able to keep Wilson from wrecking anything around him before he got his brain back. Garth had _heard_ about New York, and DC. 

~...I understand that, I think,~ Joey answered. He did sound steady with it, though with grief wound through it. ~Is my father... safe? Okay?~ 

"I can acquire linens for you," J'onn said but he was amused by Garth's outburst. "Tempest, she has… a few advantages with the situation." ~He will be. He is in good hands.~ With that assurance made, he indicated the door for Garth. "You and I need to not be here. I will get the linens for them, then take you back to the satellite."

"There is no…" Garth began, but J'onn was already shaking his head at the younger man, making him fall to silence. Arthur always trusted the Martian.

Dinah smiled at Tempest, soft and warmly amused, almost despite herself. "I promise, it's going to be okay. When there's not an active threat, he's not nearly as... volatile. Thank you, J'onn." 

"This day just keeps getting weirder!" Garth complained, but he left and waited in the hall as J'onn acquired the new linens for Dinah. J'onn had to turn attention away a few times, but he soon had the young man and himself up on the roof to return to the WatchTower.

"She really will be able to handle him; there have been two incidents I am aware of that were handled with minimal loss of life," J'onn said in reassurance as he remotely set the recall transportation.

"...I don't even know what to say to that," Garth said, shaking his head as he looked at the Manhunter. "...It's only, what, five am on the East Coast? I'm not waking up the Titans that early unless you need us out of your hair right away?" 

"You are welcome to stay as long as you need to," J'onn told him. He did however go and find comm gear that had the main teams' top frequencies already dialed in. "One for you, one for your mate, and a recall band for the boy, until you have made contact with your team," he offered, holding out the pieces to Garth. "If you are hungry, I can acquire food for you as well."

"...starving," Garth admitted, finally noticing it. 

+++ 

Back in Buenos Aires, Dinah finished making up the bed and went to pull the knife out of Slade's chest, finish drying him off, and set herself to start hauling him to the bed. Yes, she was perfectly capable of moving him around; that didn't make it easy! 

Once _he_ was settled back into the bed, she stripped to her skin and crawled in next to him... though she kept a fold of the sheet between her body and what was currently, actually a corpse. 

Maybe it was because J'onn had pointed it out, but she could have sworn that the dizzy nausea faded into an awareness he was coming back before that first gasp of breath and the blind reach for her. There was a solid growl in Slade's throat, but he was reacting to her presence, needing to get her to safety rather than lashing out.

"Shhh... shh, baby, it's okay," she crooned softly, tucking herself full-length against his body, nuzzling in close. "It's okay, we're both safe, Slade, we're both just fine. No danger -- no, _no_ danger, we're okay.... We're safe, it's okay. Just hold me," she said softly, petting along his chest. 

The growl eased off… mostly. Slade was torn between door on one side, windows on the other… and that meant he rolled her to be mostly beneath his protective body. At least he did keep his weight off her -- due to the ready-to-spring posture.

She looked up at his face for a long moment, shaking her head a little as she thought //should have expected that// and then she just shifted to go back to petting him, her hands light on his shoulders. At least he wasn't trying to haul her under the bed or anything like that. "Shhh.... shhh, baby, it's okay. Everything's okay, we're safe.... Door's locked, yes, I know there are windows, but it's okay, we're fine..."

His rumble-worry sound disagreed with her assessment, but he was fighting to get his mind back, focusing on her with most of his senses. Strange smells. Salt water and … sand? Why? She was his, worried, old worry, under the her-scent. No blood on her, but blood in the air… old, drying, hidden. Not a threat, he decided, as he nuzzled her throat and hair.

She pushed into his nuzzling, giving up her throat and her jaw, still stroking her hands along his shoulders. At least he wasn't growling anymore, that was good. The more he settled, the easier this would be. She turned her head when he moved a little, brushing her lips across his cheek. "That's it... Thank you, baby. That's it. Just stay right here with me, okay?"

He pushed into her touches, trying to understand her words, letting them anchor him. The city pressed in for a moment, as some memory tried to intrude, a memory of her fighting him in a city. It made his brow furrow before he shook his head. She would fight him, if it came to it, but there would be a reason. Even in his state, he knew that.

That furrow of his brow worried her and she shifted just a little, brushing another kiss over his cheek, his temple. "What's wrong, Slade? What is it?" she asked the questions softly, keeping herself calm. "I'm here, we're okay.... We're together. Whatever it was, we're together, it's okay..."

He slipped his arms under her more, needing to hold her closer more than he needed his mobility. The memory had to be wrong, and he pushed hard to get past the primacy of it, to find his words.

Why would she be bound in a fight against him? He would never… 

His muscles corded hard even as his arms slipped gently around her, and the contrast made her even more concerned. Whatever he was thinking -- if he _thought_ in this state -- it wasn't good, and that could be dangerous. She tried to stretch against him, press into everywhere they were in contact, her arms sliding down around his ribs.

"You've got me," she told him gently. "Whatever it is, you've got me safe, right here with you..."

She was talking. Safe. In his arms, beneath him… and that made him settle again. He closed his eye, listened to her heart. That was familiar, a way to concentrate on now, to ignore everything else, so that the outside world could not intrude. He breathed slowly, her scent filling his lungs as he chose to ignore the rest of the room. He could feel her skin, soft and giving over a layer of firm tone, the touch of her hands reinforcing that she was truly here.

"There," she breathed out, soft and relieved as he stretched out on her, seemed to focus himself on her. "That's good, baby. I love you, Slade."

She kept up a soft patter of words, all gentle assurances that they were safe together, that they were okay, a few teasing comments about wanting him to hurry up so that she could have breakfast scattered between the rest of it, and she waited. This was the part that always felt like it took forever.

He began to tense, but less in the coiled-tiger, and more of the weight-of-the-world tension, letting her know his higher functions were returning to him. When he dropped fully on her, burying his face in her neck and hair, there was a full body shudder to go with it.

"Sister…." His voice was harsh, a rasp of pain in a locked throat, as that dream came back to plague him.

" _Hi_ , baby."

The words nearly burst out of her lungs the minute he spoke to her, and her arms tightened around him, clinging to his body. "It's okay now. J'onn brought Tempest and they took care of those things, of everything. Just you in that head of yours again now."

Slade shook his head against her. "You don't understand, Sister. If they really were… then the rest of it is some bizarre prophecy that needs to be crushed," he told her. "I know where my brother is… will be? soon. I know the Kid is in danger like he's never seen. Your boy… is going to get hurt, personally. All these details… and they revolve around more factors than I can keep straight right now." He was relieved about the Spirits being deconstructed, but the rest of it still terrified him on levels that proved he just never did know how to keep the world at a distance. Wintergreen and Rose and the Kid, all at risk, meant he had to stop this.

"What?" she blinked up at him, staring, trying to catch up with the speed he thought at. "Some kind of... prophetic dream? It wasn't just... them, tormenting you?"

He sounded so certain, and fear for her boy, for Nightwing struck her hard, coursed through her, and her hands tightened on his back as she forced it away. At least away for now. It would work to push her onward, later, but it wasn't useful now. Right now, her man was afraid and their boys were in trouble. "...Okay. If there's big trouble, we'll deal with it. What do we do first?"

Slade raised up enough to look her in the face as all the pieces surrounding her slid into space. She could not be responsible… and that meant bad magic. "Do me a favor as soon as we're dressed? Call that Martian of yours back, and I'll order room service." Buckling down to work was the best way to do it. Clear her of whatever timebomb was in her head, and while she was recovering from that -- hopefully on her way back to the States -- he'd go tie up family business before tackling the rest of it.

She cocked her head at him, confused, but that was no problem. "I think he likes you," she agreed easily. "Shouldn't be any problem to coax him back down here. Once, you know, you stop hiding me from the whole big bad world," she smiled, trying to keep at least a playful edge. "Though you're going to have to put chocolate or Chocos on the tab, if we're inviting him down."

"I think I can spring for chocolates," he told her, before claiming a kiss before letting her up. Clean clothes, casual for now, were the priority. Too much to do… and he snagged his phone to send a text to Wintergreen. [Change of plans, going to be running around a bit instead of working.] It was mostly to reassure himself than to start a chain of concern from the Brit. 

She had purred at the kiss, then rolled up to gather clothes out of her bag and dress. 

[Feeling restless, old friend? Or has your mystery girl had trouble?] came back to him before he was finished dressing.

Dinah glanced at him, saw that they were both decent, and reached out for J'onn. ~Hey, big brother? Can you come back down?~

Slade smiled at that text, then replied. [Bit of trouble stirring, want to get some intel. I thought you'd decided she _was_ trouble.] He moved over to the phone to dial up some food for them, including the local variation on cocoa, and a box of chocolates from the hotel's gift shop.

J'onn paused in talking to Tempest and Dolphin about the situation in Atlantis, and turned his attention to Dinah. ~I can. I take it… yes, he's conscious; your mind is not so raw.~ "Excuse me. I have to attend to something," he told the family. "The computer will recognize you should you choose to leave, Tempest. The teleporter can be guided by preset voice commands, and Titans Tower is one of them."

[I have; that doesn't mean you have the same sense. ....all right, then. Do keep me informed] hit his phone while he was still on the phone with the concierge.

"Thank you," Tempest said with a quick smile for J'onn. Oddly enough, he thought he might actually _like_ this particular senior Leaguer, at least from his current observations. "Good luck, whatever it is."

~Yep,~ Dinah agreed with that, mostly cheerfully, ~he's up. And he asked for you. See you in a minute.~

Slade left the messages at that point; he'd update Wintergreen once he had picked up Wade's trail.

J'onn nodded at that, then hurried to get himself below. When he materialized on the roof, he touched Dinah's mind. ~Window or door this time, Dinah? I do not wish to provoke any lingering protectiveness he's going through in the aftermath of his resurrection.~

~Door's probably the best idea,~ Dinah agreed after a moment to think. "He'll be here in just a second, baby. By the door, even."

"Alright, Sister. Food should be up shortly." This was going to be hella tricky, Slade knew. 

J'onn phased down to the right level, then opted for the more professional Goldie persona. She could explain being here far easier than Private Eye at Large John Jones.

Dinah nodded and crossed to him, leaning her head in against his chest as she slipped an arm around his waist. She was going to take her moments of cuddle where she could get them, especially if there was a lot of work ahead. "I missed you," she said softly. "Pretty sure I hadn't said that yet."

Slade's head turned before the light rap at the door, and she unwrapped herself from him -- only to have him promptly cross the distance to the door before she took a single step. She sighed at him, planting a hand on her hip for a moment, but then he had let J'onn inside, and she smiled at her old friend. "Hi, 'Goldie'. I like the new hairstyle."

"So does the editor at the Star," the alien told her as she slipped past on Slade's gestured invitation. The man then shut the door back.

"Might be a good idea to wait for food," he said before appraising the newcomer. She stuck her hand out, smiling with brazen confidence.

"You can call me Goldie, or I can take on a more familiar guise," she told him. 

Slade took 'her' hand to shake, and there was a little more than human strength in the grip, faint trace of that 'sand' smell in his nose. This wasn't a human woman at all, this was the Martian Manhunter, he knew even before the last words. He glanced at his little bird, who shrugged a shoulder slightly. If Dinah didn't care, he didn't either. "Whichever suits you," he answered with a similar shrug. 

Dinah snorted and moved across to give Goldie a quick hug. ~Is Joey doing okay?~ 

~He is. Resting now. I'm trying to work with him on his trauma surrounding events before going to Fate.~ Goldie flowed into the beetle-browed alien that was recognizable to all. "I prefer this, then. And I am glad to see you are well now."

Slade nodded, settling a little now that scent and sight matched better... sound was strange, there was no heartbeat and very little respiration, but he could deal with that. At least it was better than the human-looking woman standing there with the same cues/lack thereof. "Thank you. ...I am sorry if it was disturbing to be around, but -- there wasn't much choice, from where I was sitting." 

Dinah moved closer to Slade then, now that she'd hugged J'onn and checked on Joey. ~I haven't told him. He's not going to believe me, and he's so worried about everything else... but he said wait for food.~ 

~I can keep it discreet for now. Better that way; I feel a strong drive from him.~ J'onn took the chair that was most out of sight of the door. "Tempest was of great assistance and most concerned for your well-being," J'onn answered the man. "Dinah mentioned a dream brought it on… but you did say to wait for food. Anything you can share before it gets here?"

"Not a dream," Slade said, forcing back a shudder. "Nightmare, but if part of it was real... the rest of it may be. And I am not thrilled at picking up even part of one of my daughter's abilities. Glad to hear Tempest is all right... remember something about him, wasn't good." 

"Turns out he and his were under house arrest," J'onn said, willing to gossip in a manner that was not harmful to anyone. 

"What?!" Dinah demanded.

"It was an internal matter," J'onn said, mimicking Arthur's voice fairly well. "But, since we had need of Tempest, Arthur consented to allow the interference… and the vague impressions I have had since then suggest he is now acting more decisively on the internal matter."

Slade snorted, shaking his head a little. "...sounds like life's been complicated underwater." //Hopefully he's doing a better job handling his own problems than he did with me...// There was a quick rap at the door, and he went to go acquire the tray and tip the bellhop.

Dinah shook her head. "I remember when he wasn't as cranky as B." She then wrinkled her nose at Arthur before reaching and squeezing J'onn's hand. "We grew up."

"Well, all of you did. I was already there," he answered that with a deadpan face before he turned his attention to Slade offering him the box and a cup of cocoa. "I see Dinah has ratted out my vice."

"I did not 'rat out your vice'," Dinah protested, while she was still pouting at him for that comment. "We've asked a lot of you today, and apparently we're not done yet, I figured it was only fair you get a treat." 

Slade glanced at her, amused, and then shared out the rest of the food between the two of them. He looked up at the Manhunter for a moment, saying, "Sorry, but I'm starving," before he tucked into the food. 

"I am accustomed to strong appetites around me," J'onn said indulgently. He did investigate the chocolates, choosing one to savor as the humans ate. He took the time to observe the pair at closer range, watching that blending in and out of each other that made them a single being. However, now that he was focusing, he realized that the bond was not unique to Dinah; the man was leaking mental energy in a few different directions.

Dinah laughed softly, corners of her mouth twitching as she worked on her own meal. "You have Flash, and I've seen him eat, and some of the others, too." 

J'onn nodded, then explored the chocolates for another one. He was already anticipating something intensely energy-consuming if it were Slade that had requested his presence. ~See, your father is safe,~ J'onn told Joey, letting him see. ~I do not think it is best for you to talk to him yet… but depending on how long Dr Fate takes, I can arrange that at a later point.~

~Best… probably worried. He's tense; see it in his jaw,~ Joey answered, but he feasted on the sight of his father in one piece. Why Roy's Dinah was also in the room, Joey was unsure, but he faded back, assimilating the common knowledge and history that J'onn had made available to him. So many questions… but he was going to live again!

Slade finished his food, then looked at J'onn with frank honesty. "The League's got some dirty laundry that … based on the nightmare … is going to blow sky-high in the near-ish future, Manhunter. My perceptions of it are at odds with what I know of some of the members involved, but you were fully in the clear. My little bird trusts you, so I'm willing to lean on that to try and head this off." He shrugged. "What I saw, aside from being rougher than the red skies on people I have an interest in, would also be very bad for my line of work."

Dinah shifted a little closer to Slade, spreading her hand over his thigh at his willingness to trust her judgment, but what dirty laundry? Yes, of course they'd all had their share of mistakes, but what could he be so worried about? Worse things than the spirits of Azarath? 

She almost wanted to get up and pace. 

Slade reached out and looped his arm around her, aware on a basic level that she was reacting to what he had said. J'onn took that in, and felt a distinct concern for whatever Slade was going to say next.

"I do understand self-interest," J'onn said quietly. "The League has had growing pains, but it sounds as if you think this goes beyond that."

"Far beyond," Slade agreed, his arm wrapped lightly around his little bird, though his eye never left the Manhunter's face. "Even seeing it through the cloud of the Spirits, and knowing there has to be more to it than they cared to find out... just what I saw is -- " 

He actually had to pause for words, trying to decide how to say it. " -- vile. And enough to make me give consideration to actually taking jobs against your side of the fence. Possibly for free." 

Dinah yelped at that, and even J'onn arched a brow at the idea of that. He then considered Dinah, and Slade's careful keeping of her close at his side.

"Dinah, would you agree that I should do anything in my power to handle the situation, as another founding member of the original League?" he asked in a calm way, seeking consent if his growing suspicion was correct.

She had tucked herself closer against Slade's side when he said that, her hand tightening almost despite herself. She couldn't lose him, she _couldn't_ \-- and she looked across at J'onn. "Of course you should. I can't imagine what would be that bad, but... he's serious, and that's frankly pretty terrifying." 

Slade hugged her a little closer, then breathed out a sigh. "...Well, that tells me I'm right about one of you, little bird. Because you were there the day this started, and it would ride your mind every damned day unless someone scrambled you." 

"What?" she stared at him, baffled, her eyes widening. **She** had been there, during something that would make Slade attack the hero community again? "I -- Slade, that can't be..." 

J'onn reached out mentally to her, even as he knew Slade was wrapping his presence around her more firmly. ~I will fix whatever it is, Dinah.~ His reassurance was met with such a sudden resistance that there was no doubt Slade was on the right tack.

"Little Bird, I know you. You don't leave problems, and you sure as hell never turn on one of your own people," Slade told her softly.

She shied back from J'onn's touch on her mind, tried to shy back from Slade, but -- why was she flinching back? J'onn wouldn't hurt her, and Slade was -- 

"Of course I don't leave problems, not the serious kind," she replied, whipsawing between pleasure in his faith in her and certainty that she didn't deserve it. "But you -- you have to be wrong, I wouldn't -- "

"Arthur Light, Dinah," Slade said, hating himself for doing it, but he had to force this into the open, now. "Sue Dibny and Arthur Light." 

"Sue?" J'onn said, concern rising even higher. And then he was caught in a full on battle within Dinah's mind, as something attacked his presence there, leading him to trust his physical safety to Slade and focus all his mental presence on her. ~I am here, and you will show me what I seek!~ he commanded the force trying to hide the events from him.

She had had a moment's blank incomprehension, and then she tried to fling herself out of Slade's arms, tried to pull up all of her mental shields against J'onn -- no, no, he couldn't see, he couldn't!! -- but Slade's grip on her was as impossible to break, and she had no mental gifts. No, no, he couldn't see -- 

"Little bird," Slade said, "let J'onn help you.... Let him help, sister." 

~I will not fail you, Dinah,~ J'onn told her, seeking… there, a crack in the defenses! He slipped through, following the 'hare' of thoughts around Sue. Sue in pain and afraid making Dinah angry and sickened was a strong emotion, throwing him a guide through the broken plains of her fractured mind. That this had come before the Red Skies was terrifying in and of itself.

~You won't,~ Dinah agreed, more than a little hysterical -- of course J'onn wouldn't fail, he never did -- her chest and throat aching, her nails biting into Slade's arm around her. ~ **I** did. ...wait, what?~ 

~He doesn't think you did. And I have to agree. I know you are one who is aware of the line, and when to cross it.~ J'onn hated that he'd learned that because of updating her clearances… and wasn't that curious that he was riding her guilt/horror back to a time before she had vanished from their lives? Finally he glimpsed --

\-- Sue lying on the metal decking of the first satellite, broken and abused. Ralph going to her, helping, frantic for her. Others joining them, then dividing to search for the attacker --

The force trying to shroud the events built into a raging inferno, but it was no match for a Martian whose chosen family had been hurt. Ralph and Sue were very dear friends of his, a fresh breath of peace during a stressful team incarnation.

She tried to hold onto that reassurance from J'onn, and then he tore through the screens of -- of magic trying to cloud her mind, hide this from her, from J'onn -- and then she was staring aghast and terrified and enraged at what she could finally see in her own memories. The distress call and Sue's crumpled body. Ralph's panicked desperation to get her to help. Their hunt -- 

\-- and that man. Laughing and boasting and taunting, all of their loved ones at risk, //Roy. Wally. Donna. Garth. Dick.// The thoughts _flew_ through her mind as they had then, seeing each of her friends' wards/partners with marks like Sue's on them, and her voice was a wail. 

Slade turned her into his chest, holding onto her and trying to give her as much comfort as he could. He _knew_ he was right about her, but to get to the truth was going to take extreme measures, he was certain. He could see nothing, hear nothing, but she reeked of pain and rage. 

J'onn noted each person present, watched the vicious spell to shut-up that Zatanna cast on the culprit. He felt all of Dinah's raging emotions as he settled himself firmly in these memories to watch them play out, to try and understand. All of it sickened him, from what had happened to the very fact this was the first he had heard of it.

Then, just as that threatened to overwhelm him, his dear friends began to fight with all their passion to prevent the tragedy from being compounded. Oliver, Dinah… and Hal… all shone brightly with their sense of justice in those moments, fighting to protect a vicious predator from the unjust solution Hawkman wanted.

~Not right, J'onn, it wasn't -- the League can't kill, and... this -- this -- _no_ ,~ Dinah said at him, almost more of a babble, and then she turned her head further against the body against hers, shaking, as -- 

"Barry, _no_ ," she whispered, all unknowing, as the **cop** said to repay rape with rape of a different kind, under that old charter.

J'onn felt more violently ill than he had since the realization that Talia's trap against him had been conceived by Bruce. He choked it away, watching this play out, and then the fact he'd thought of Bruce seemed to make his image appear in Dinah's mind, and a new wave of magic had to be smashed aside from obscuring his view.

Slade crooned softly, but he tensed. She'd told him how complex her emotions around Barry Allen were.

~...what?~ Dinah stared at her own memories, shaking -- and she could half-remember knowing that she had said 'yes'. She could remember knowing she said take his memories, when at the time, all she had felt was overwhelming relief that he was there, that he'd come in time to _stop_ this -- 

Oh, she was going to kill Zatanna. She wasn't the League, she hadn't been League in a very long time, and Zatanna was a dead woman. 

~No, Dinah. She will pay for what she has done, but not that. It would be no better than the rest of this sordid mess,~ J'onn told her… yet he let her taste the white-hot rage swelling in him. How badly had she broken Bruce? Was this why he had pulled into his paranoia so far? A small part of him wondered if perhaps there had been a malign influence on the whole League at that point, if Zatanna might not be as guilty as she looked, yet the rage was winning. Bruce was one of his anchors in this world.

~She left **that** free to _attack the children_!~ Dinah shrieked at him, though the taste of his rage was at least a little soothing. ~Don't care what it led to for me, but for Oliver, Bruce, the _kids_!!!~

There was a corner of her mind that wanted to agree with J'onn, that thought he was right, but she wasn't the girl of these memories any more, sure there was always a better way. 

J'onn could easily see her side of it; he'd been led on a tortuous path because of the mercy he'd shown to his brother. ~Dinah. Living is far more punishing than death can be… and she has earned a long punishment by my thoughts on the matter,~ J'onn told her firmly, flavoring it with the grief over his children… Vibe and Steel both, with his fear for Vixen and Cindy during all of Despero's hunt. That team had been formed with Zatanna, who had not been as available as J'onn needed with such an inexperienced team. Again, the voice of reason within argued that there might yet be some further cause, some manipulation. This was unlike the woman he knew.

~...a point,~ Dinah finally answered, subsiding slightly from her fury only because J'onn _did_ know, he understood... and that truly was a point. Death, after all, was the end. Living, once this was settled out... Yes. He was not wrong -- as long as Light died, as long as Zatanna was **dealt** with. 

~I will make certain this entire incident is dealt with, fully, Dinah.~ J'onn pulled back to a more neutral part of her mind, to gather himself for returning his fully presence into his own form. ~Though… I leave the Spectre for you. He will have the power to attend his host. And then… the guilty.~

Dinah made herself look at these old memories one more time, made herself watch as Batman //oh, Bruce// was sent back to the Batcave, and... something in her mouth quirked as she watched and remembered losing her temper at Zatanna, at pushing her to go and remove all traces of this from Sue's mind, from Ralph's. Not fair to them to make her live with this when he walked free, not fair and it was not -- had not -- happened. Once she had seen everything important, she 'leaned' a little into the touch of J'onn's mind, more distant but no less present... and his last words made her nod, both mentally and against Slade's shoulder. 

~...he has the right,~ she agreed after barely a moment's thought. ~That... yes.~

In a moment she would actually manage to speak to Slade. Just a moment... and in answer to that, Slade's grip on her shifted, drawing her into his lap more completely, just cradling her there to catch her mental balance.

J'onn finally opened his eyes to view Slade in the physical realm, drawing in a breath as he did. "You were most correct, but… also misdirected, I would think. It was a despicable event, but fewer were at fault than it may have seemed. I give you my word it will be handled."

Dinah clung to him, her hands tightening and tangling in the fabric of his shirt, and nodded against his shoulder. "What -- what someone could have _done_ , with only part of that story -- " She felt herself shudder, the motion violent, and she struggled to breathe steadily again. 

Slade studied those red eyes, the resolute look on his face, and Dinah's nod against his shoulder, and decided that the Martian was as much a being of his word as he himself was. "All right, then. I'm glad -- very glad -- to hear it."

He had to get to his Kid, Dinah had to get to Roy... Had to be sure his Kid was safe, haul him bodily out of the dangers biting at his hamstrings if he had to -- but first, Wade and protecting his daughter. 

"Thank you for the chocolate," J'onn said, acquiring the rest of them and rising. "I have much to do this day." He was not certain where he should begin first… but he knew he had to be responsible to the other soul in his keeping, and set him in safer hands.

"You're welcome," Slade answered, mild, as Dinah shifted just enough to look at J'onn and speak softly. 

"Thank you, big brother. I -- I missed you." 

That brought a sad smile to J'onn's features. "I missed you, all three of you. I hate that I never pressed."

He then nodded to both of them and left for the Watch Tower.

When the alien was gone, Slade looked down at his little love, studying her. "Need time before you talk about it?"

She frowned, looking up at his face. 

Her entire world had been rocked, turned up on its head and shaken. it was like looking at the sun for too long, inverted colors seemed to swirl through all of her memories. Choices that hadn't been what she would do on her own, the isolation she and Ollie had held themselves in for so long... "...I don't know. I -- I want to tell you everything, but it's so tangled up in my head, even with everything J'onn could do. It's," her own mouth twisted in fury and pain, "so much that I have to look at, now, re-figure it all out... but at least I've got you while I try.

"But I do need to go up on the roof and get the Spectre's attention. J'onn left me that to do." 

"The Spectre, huh?" For just a moment, he let his amusement at her connections, at how tangled their lives were with cosmic events, show. "Going to make some travel arrangements while you do that, Sister. Have to follow up on some other threads."

She nodded and lifted her head to kiss him, her hands still wrapped in his shirt, then she reluctantly let go. All she really wanted to do was curl up in his arms and sob out her fury and pain and grief, but she had work to do. "If one of those other threads is your damned brother, I am going with you. Do you hear me?" 

Slade blinked innocently at her, then slid into a lazy, pleased smile. "Was going to let you go handle finding out where the boys were in their lives, but… not going to say no, Sister, to keeping you close."

"Smart man," she said,brushing a kiss across his lips again. That was much better than him trying to deny what he was after, or trying to push her away. She'd had enough of that a long time ago. "Of course I'll check on them, but I'm going with you hunting him. So," she forced herself up onto her feet. "You get us moving, while I go snarl at the current host of God's right hand. Or is it left hand? Oh, whatever. I don't do philosophy." 

He nodded, watching her leave. How much did he love her more for the ability to take a crippling moment like what she'd just gone through and still make herself work? As the door closed, he contacted Jesse, ready to get at least this piece of it all taken care of.

+++

Dinah slipped out of the roof access and said, quiet but firm, flinging her need out into the psychic sphere. "Hal. Hal Jordan. Hal. I need you." 

She waited a moment, two, three. "Harold Jordan, get down here before I start yelling for your other one, instead." 

"You play dirty," Hal said from behind her. "You do know I'm not even supposed to answer this name?"

She turned around, giving him a long, level look. "If you hadn't, I'd have started working on getting him instead, since I need his help more than I need you -- kinda. Hal, Zatanna made us all forget something. Something awful. You need to remember." 

"What?" He frowned at her, then searched his brain for anything he could think of… and there was nothing pinging him suspiciously. "Dinah, you're sure?" he asked, displaying the trust he held for her in his tone. He would turn the Spectre loose on his brain if she believed it.

"J'onn just spent a good long time tearing the spells out of my brain," she answered, nodding at him as she stretched out one hand. "And no matter our problems, I think better of you than that you went with her willingly on _this_."

Hal smiled at her, tightly, for that, and took her hand to squeeze it. "Let me get comfortable." He settled down on the roof, closing his eyes. ~Moonie, we've got issues. Can you poke at any magic that my buddy Zatanna might have placed on me?~

The cosmic being grumbled at the nickname, but he focused on his host's past life. With ease, he undid the Atlantean-based verbal magic, ripping open some damaging memories that soon had his complete focus.

Dinah let him keep hold of her hand, and settled down next to him. It was only a few moments before he started to shake, and she freed her hand from his to wrap her arm around his shoulders. J'onn had been as careful as he could be -- she doubted that the Spectre was going to be quite so kind. "Gotcha, Hal.... I gotcha..." 

"I… we… DINAH!" It was an anguished cry, as all of their choices after that crowded in, and he remembered being so alone. He clung to her as long as he could, holding the Spectre's need to go punish at bay. "We didn't do it," he managed to get out. 

"No," she agreed, hanging on to him tightly, hand running through his hair. Those choked last words made her shudder just a little, relief and fury both. "We didn't. Zatanna -- J'onn says death is too quick. He's planning. But _Light_ \-- he's yours. Well, Spectre's, has to be."

Hal nodded, wrestling that one over internally. "She needs to pay, for Oliver, for you… for Coast." He gave her a tight hug. "J'onn will help them all?" he asked, feeling the need to hunt rising.

"He said so," she nodded, letting herself lean into his arms -- not really sure which of them she was comforting more. "He might need help, but I know he'll call. Just -- Hal, what if that spell on Light had broken?" 

She was well aware that she didn't actually need to fan the Spectre's need to hunt any higher, but she was so furious that he'd been let to run and hunt the kids that she couldn't quite keep the words back.

"It won't get a chance to." He stood, drawing her to her feet so he could hug her more fully, closing his eyes as he did. "That part, we will take care of." He didn't mention that his memories would be evidence against Zatanna, that the Sentinels of Magic would know the suffering that had been caused to his best friends.

"Good," she leaned against him, then let go. "And good hunting." 

"Justice for countless victims," Hal said. "This one's about vengeance, not redemption." He left her there, vanishing to go find the Spectre's prey.

"With you there," she agreed, and turned to start down the stairs, back to her mate and her own hunting.


End file.
